The invention relates to a method of a device for selection or entry of a destination location, in a navigation system of a motor vehicle. Present motor vehicle navigation systems, or those being developed, give the driver information for choosing the driving direction at intersections during driving after the driver has input his destination into the navigation system. All locations in the region whose map is digitally stored in the navigation system, are taken into consideration as driving destinations. With respect to traffic safety, the manner in which the driver indicates the driving destination has particular importance.
The driver can convey the driving destination to the navigation system by using a road map, a numeric code, or the name of the destination (location, street and street address). The handling of a road map or a handbook for taking the numeric code of the destination is a rather cumbersome procedure and can not be considered for use in the motor vehicle during driving. The driver can fix the destination location by selecting the destination from the list of all possible destination locations (destination list) stored in the navigation system. The entry of a destination location not yet contained in the destination list is required only in special cases. The method of selecting the destination has the advantage that the driver need enter only the minimum number of letters and numbers of the destination location which allow an unequivocal assignment to a destination on the destination list. Vocal input would be the ideal method for selecting or entering the destination location but this can not yet be considered at present or in the near future due to the present technical limitations. Selection or entry of the destination location by means of a keyboard, whether this is an alphanumeric complete keyboard or one of the numerous keyboard variants with a reduced number of keys, has the disadvantage that it may be carried out only when the vehicle is stationary, since it would be too distracting for the driver during driving. The word-by-word search ("scrolling") is known as a method for selecting the destination from the destination list; in this method, the destination list in which the destinations are stored alphabetically can be scrolled behind an optical display window by two direction switches. Due to the large number of possible destinations, this method also has an effect which is too distracting to be used during driving.